Keystroke monitoring in schools

From WebDevLaw blog:

"You should never have to read a newspaper from another country to find out what is happening in your own country, but I had to read Al Jazeera English to learn about this:"

"UK: Keyword warning software in schools raises red flag
Education Pro enables teachers to monitor students’ online activity and sends "violation" alerts over trigger terms.

Schoolchildren in the UK who search for words such as "caliphate" and the names of Muslim political activists on classroom computers risk being flagged as potential supporters of terrorism by monitoring software being marketed to teachers to help them spot students at risk of radicalisation..."

 

"According to Impero about 40 percent of schools in the UK already use Education Pro, although a pilot version of the radicalisation library has so far only been rolled out in a few schools... "

"First, I feel betrayed as a parent..."

"Second, the fact that this system is in place in English schools matters not. From my work in a Scottish Parliamentary liaison group I know that matters of defence and security, such as military recruitment in schools, override the devolution of education. If they want to put this system into place in Scottish schools, again, consent is irrelevant..."

"Third, this system imposes a chilling effect on young minds. A student doing innocent online research to try to make sense of what is happening in this strange and scary world will now automatically generate a possible terrorism indicator..."

"Fourth, we see yet more of the now-familiar tactic of spinning unhealthy digital legislation into something that people asked for ... "

"In other words, the online surveillance is a byproduct of statutory "safeguarding" duties that have been placed upon teachers which go far beyond education. Teachers are terrified of being held legally liable for a child’s moral failure, and they have had to cover their backsides. Sound familiar? It should: that’s the reality of Scotland’s Named Person legislation...."

Read more https://idea15.wordpress.com/2015/10/30/the-ugly-truth-behind-uk-schools-monitoring-students-keyword-searches/

It is local authorities that are insured against claims which will be held accountable for Named Person decisions, not teachers.